REVIEWS

The Girl Downriver: An Incredible Journey from Tomboy to Pin-up Girl to World War II Army NurseBy Bettie Basye Ott

RECENT REVIEWSHope Hamilton, Author of book: Sacrifice on the Steppe: The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign, 1942-1943: Last night I began reading your book and was mesmerized! I am only up to page 64 but have experienced a gamut of emotions - laughter, empathy, anger, tears as I experience you as an innocent, exposed to "life" in all its wonder and terror and the many events that you could not understand. Your writing is terrific and brings me right to your experiences. You write so clearly and put the reader in your shoes. I cannot wait to continue on in your book....What I love most about your book is your honesty and willingness to present your feelings so openly, without judgment. You tell your story as it happened. Lea Lyon, award-winning children's book illustrator: My husband and I are fighting over your book - each of us wants to read it at the same time. Yesterday every time I took a break from painting I read more of your wonderful book. But, I had to fight to get a hold of it, because my husband, Bernie, had picked it up and was reading the part where you were the nurse during the war. He couldn’t put it down, so I went back to painting. You are such a fine writer!! I’m going to climb into bed and read your book.

Claire Johnson Hartman, Author of the book: "Shirlee Holmes, The Sutro Murder Case": No one else could have written such a personal and vivid account of your life. Your childhood made tears come to my eyes. Your life as an Army nurse hit me in the pit of my stomach...I was absolutely horrified at the casualties you treated on a daily basis. You are a very talented writer and I'm so glad that you put your family's history on paper--for your children--and for the rest of us who grew up in the little town of Oroville.

(To learn more about the medical and psychological challenges soldiers face in recovering from burns, see “War Is a Helluva Teacher”by Vikki Valentine.)

FROM HER BOOK: On first meeting her, you sense that she had once upon a time been a beauty queen.—Studs Terkel, excerpt from “The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two”

All who read The Girl Downriver will be taken back in time to an earlier, simpler age where women were looked down upon and not expected to amount to anything. World War II brought on a major shift in attitude. Bettie Basye has done a fantastic job remembering her past and writing about it in terms that bring back the 1930s and 40s.—Ro Blake, Tale Spinners of Sonoma

Bettie Lou Basye’s memoir is as tough, intimate—and sometimes romantic—as the little towns that dot the banks of California’s Feather River. It chronicles the life of a woman who, like today’s youth, came of age grappling with economic depression and war. Readers will find in Basye’s stories a piece of the American story.—Joshua Salzmann, History Professor

For many young men, the maimed, the wounded in body and mind, the whole catastrophe would have been paradise itself, as Army nurse Betty Basye knew all too well, working as she did at Hoff General Hospital in Santa Barbara, Dibble General Hospital in Menlo Park, and the Vista del Arroyo Hospital in Pasadena.—Kevin Starr excerpt from “Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950”

I especially enjoyed the Army section where you used your journal entries and letter excerpts to forward the narrative. It was historically enlightening.—B.J. Van Gelder

Bettie Lou’s story is remarkable. Anyone interested in the history of our state and nation will find it extremely illuminating and rewarding on many levels. Hers is the story of one young woman, but it includes those of countless individuals who saw their lives transformed and in many cases turned upside down by the whirlwind that was World War II. From the simple and pure enjoyment of the Feather River as a child, to the dramatic, heart-wrenching experience of helping the most disfigured war-wounded reenter society, the reader sees the world and the war as Bettie Lou experienced them. This is an extremely valuable contribution to American social history. We should all be thankful that she shared her story and hopeful that by doing so she will encourage others to do the same.—Steve Taylor, Historian

BACKGROUND

“On first meeting her, you sense that she had once upon a time been a beauty queen,”wrote Studs Terkel about Bettie Basye in his book The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two, published in 1984. The Girl Downriver is the story behind the story: a coming-of-age narrative of a young girl’s journey from living on the California Feather River during the Great Depression to serving as an army nurse in World War II. Bettie shares humorous vignettes and thought-provoking stories of her family life living on the river as seen through the eyes of a child. She reveals the darkness and drama around adult-child relationships and the inequalities of the time.

You will run along the banks of the Feather River in Oroville, California, with Bettie and her brother Sonny, seeking adventure. You will swim the cool river currents with her sister, Bernice. You will experience the simple homesteader’s life, living off the land and being resourceful in a time of great hardship and poverty during the Great Depression. And, you will seethe with Bettie as they experience the injustices endured by her demanding chauvinistic stepfather. The oppressive treatment, inequality, and sexism of the time took Bettie from innocence to turbulence to awakening. As Bette remembers her past, writing about it in terms that bring back the 1930s and 1940s, you will be taken back in time to an earlier, simpler age when women were looked down upon and not expected to amount to anything. The game changer was World War II. In Bettie’s case, the day was December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. For some, this was the start of the feminist movement and equal opportunity, when women were transformed from submissive to self-reliant and successful.

Bettie enrolled in Nurses' Training at Fresno General Hospital School of Nursing. She graduated in 1944 and immediately joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. She worked at Hoff General Hospital in Santa Barbara and Dibble General Hospital in Menlo Parkwhere she was assigned to a plastic surgery unit. Bettie explores her emotions and shares her candid reflections as a young woman caught up in the war, including her unexpected experience of becoming a pin-up girl. In her diary entries she kept while an army nurse, Bettie describes her experiences coming face to face with the horrors of war: injured soldiers who suffered grotesque battle wounds and emotional trauma. Yet, even in the midst of great sorrow, there is humor, romance, and adventure as Bettie and her army nurse buddies navigate military life on the hospital base while tending to soldiers during their transition from virile air force pilots and army men, to wounded warriors facing uncertain futures as disabled veterans. Her stories alert us again to the veterans of all wars, who continue to bear their injuries and call our attention to the compassion that can aid in the healing process.

Bettie Basye’s memoir is as tough, intimate—and sometimes romantic—as the little towns that dot the banks of California’s Feather River. It chronicles the life of a woman who, like today’s youth, came of age grappling with economic depression and war. From her simple and pure enjoyment of the Feather River as a child, to the dramatic, heart-wrenching experience of helping the most disfigured war-wounded reenter society, you will see the world and the war as Bettie Lou experienced them. This book is an extremely valuable contribution to American social history. Bettie’s war story, titled “Betty Basye Hutchinson,” was featured in Studs Terkel’s The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two, published in 1984. Terkel’s excerpt of her story also appeared in the Atlantic Monthly Magazine, July 1984. Kevin Starr, California’s State Librarian and Historian, cited Bettie’s story in Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace 1940-1950. And, Harriet Sigerman, in her book The Columbia Documentary History of American Women Since 1941, also included Bettie’s story, titled “The War Marked Me.”